Chapter 5

“Laixiao!”

A sudden weight settled on my shoulder.

I jumped and turned to find Shuanzi.

I no longer had a friendly face for him.

“What are you looking at?”

He knew perfectly well.

I turned to leave.

He caught hold of me.

“Laixiao, are you still angry? I know you’re kindhearted, but have you thought about it? That mermaid could make us rich overnight!”

His eyes shone with excitement.

“Has your father made her cry yet? Mermaid tears turn into pearls!”

Then his gaze grew tender.

“Laixiao, I’ve always wanted to marry you. Get her to cry more pearls these next few days. We’ll save them in secret…”

Before he could finish, someone interrupted.

“So that’s what you’ve been scheming, you brat!”

It was the village head!

He stroked his goatee and shot Shuanzi a vicious look.

Shuanzi stammered, unable to defend himself.

“Laixiao, they say your father’s worn out. He hasn’t been in that room for days. At this rate, who knows when she’ll have children? He can’t keep us waiting forever!”

The village head raised his voice deliberately so Father would hear.

Father barely reacted.

He was too busy frantically gnawing on a whole raw fish.

“Ha! That mermaid’s drained your father dry!”

The village head glanced at him with contempt.

Then he looked back at me.

“Has he made her shed pearl tears? If he has, those pearls belong to the whole village.”

His expression became stern.

I shook my head again and again.

He narrowed his eyes, plainly unconvinced.

“Village Head, Father pulled out her guardian scale. Grandfather says that takes away her magic. Don’t people say a mermaid without magic can’t weep pearls?”

I hadn’t made it up. It was something people had said for years.

“Mm. Then let her have eight or ten children first. Once she’s had them, she’ll settle down. She wouldn’t leave even if you told her to!”

The village head had plenty of experience in this.

His own wife, and both his sons’ wives, had all been bought from kidnappers.

I had heard that both daughters-in-law were daughters of wealthy families in the city.

They had been abducted while out burning incense and worshipping at a temple.

Women like that often cost dozens of taels more than poor girls from a broker.

But the village head didn’t care. He was waiting for them to have more children.

Then, when it was too late to undo, he could take the children to their families and claim kinship.

He believed children could tether even the proudest girl. A mermaid would be no different.